Fulton ponders wheel tax

County Council listens to presentations for, against plan.

County Council listens to presentations for, against plan.

March 22, 2006

ROCHESTER -- Fulton County Commissioners recommended to the Fulton County Council on Tuesday night that a $20 county excise tax be charged on most vehicles, along with a variety of rates for a wheel tax. The council spent more than an hour listening to presentations from the commissioners, from Scott Tilden, Fulton County Highway superintendent, and from county residents both for and against the plan. The council did not cast a ballot either way, but decided to give members another month to continue to both gather and digest information about the plan. Tilden said rising costs for road maintenance materials, and the state's reduction in funding for county highway departments meant that his crews will plan to chip and seal only 60 miles of county roads and pave only four miles this summer, compared with the 90 miles chipped and sealed and the 11 miles paved in 2005. Working with a budget of about $850,000, Tilden said he is responsible for maintaining 793 miles of roads throughout Fulton County. Tilden, who handed out printed information for the audience, said county funding from Gov. Mitch Daniels' Major Moves program is estimated to be $485,000 on Oct. 15 this year and the same a year from that date. "It's gone then," Tilden said of the money the state has set aside for local governments. Tilden projected a shortfall of $1.4 million in the county to keep to a recommended road maintenance schedule in which chipping and sealing of asphalt roads is done annually, with paved roads resurfaced every 15 years. Showing a timeline, Tilden said there would only be enough to chip and seal every 14 years, and pave only every 42 years. The largest part of the audience, mostly senior citizens, was not in favor of the tax, and had suggestions for raising money in other ways. Leading the charge was Bob Schoen, who said he had gathered the signatures representing "2,005 votes there against the tax." Denise Bonnell, county auditor, also introduced petitions with the names of 148 residents against the tax. Schoen told the council, as well as the commissioners present, they need to learn the difference between "needs" and "wants," and added the county "needs more jobs, not more taxes." "Nobody wants the county to go backward," Schoen, the father of four grown children, told the council. He said Tilden "wants" a five-star operation, but because of the economy "should settle for a three-star operation" like he has. Staff writer Anita Munson: amunson@sbtinfo.com (574) 936-2920